Mineral mining arrangement including track for a mining machine



Oct. 7, 1969 F. SMALL 3, 7 0

MINERAL MINING ARRANGEMENT INCLUDING TRACK FOR A MINING MACHINE FiledNov. 24, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR:

FIP E D SHALL Jim 062t- 7, 1969 F. SMALL MINERAL MINING ARRANGEMENTINCLUDING TRACK FOR A MINING MACHINE Filed NOV. 24, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet2 INVENTOR: FRED SMALL pBY Oct. 7, 1969 F. SMALL MINERAL MININGARRANGEMENT INCLUDING TRACK FOR A MINING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledNov. 24, 1967 INVENTOR:

0 MW L A L q m S D E R F United States Patent 3,471,201 MINERAL MININGARRANGEMENT INCLUDING TRACK FOR A MINING MACHINE Fred Small, Ormskirk,England, assiguor to Gullick Limited, Wigan, Lancashire, England, aBritish company Filed Nov. 24, 1967, Ser. No. 685,503 Claims priority,application Great Britain, Dec. 16, 1966, 56,569/ 66 Int. Cl. E21c29/00, 35/20 US. Cl. 299-31 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF DISCLOSURE Theinvention is concerned with a self-advancing mine roof supportcomprising two units connected together by pressure-fluid actuated meansoperative to advance the units in turn. An elevated forwardly projectingmember is provided on the front of the support and in conjunction withcorresponding members of other supports, positioned along the mineralface, carries an elevated track for a mineral mining machine. The frontof the support also This invention is for improvements in or relating tomethods of mineral (e.g. coal) mining and equipment for use in suchmethods.

A method of longwall mining now well known makes use of self-advancingroof supports which are advanced in turn or in groups towards the newlyexposed mineral face following the advance of the face conveyor. In onearrangement the supports comprise two units one behind the other andhydraulic ram means which, when operated in one direction, using therear unit as an abutment, pushes the front unit towards the newlyexposed mineral face and when operated in the other direction, using thefront unit as an anchorage, advances the rear unit, the units havingtemporarily, in turn, been relieved of roof pressure. Such methods havenot heretofore been applicable to short wall methods of mining (eg theworking of the stable) and one object of the present invention is toapply such methods to short wall mining.

According to the present invention there is provided a method of miningin which a plurality of self-advancing two-unit roof supports, carryinga conveyor means and elevated guide or support means for a mineralmining machine, are advanced collectively by successively advancing theunits of the supports, the conveyor means being positioned so that asthe supports are advanced mineral is collected and carried away by theconveyor means to, for example, a conveyor set at an angle'(e.g. normal)to the mineral face.

The expression two-unit roof supports where used in this Specificationis intended to include supports having units one behind the other andalso supports having units in side-by-side relationship.

According to a further feature of the present invention there isprovided a mine roof support comprising front and rear or side-by-sidesupport units connected together by pressure-fluid actuated meansoperative to advance the units in turn, a forwardly projecting member onthe front of the support being adapted, in conjunction withcorresponding members of other supports positioned along a mineral face,to carry elevated guide or support means Patented Oct. 7, 1969 ice for amineral mining machine, the front of the support having or being adaptedto have mounted on it a conveyor means for collecting and carrying awaythe mined mineral.

In one preferred arrangement a part of the conveyor means on the frontof the front units of the supports is in the form of a ramp plate sothat the mined mineral is gathered onto the conveyor means as thesupport system is advanced.

Where the face conveyor means comprises an endless conveyor the frontsupport unit, or at least one leg or prop thereof, is positioned betweenthe oppositely moving lengths or runs of said endles conveyor. Such anarrangement has the advantage that the front support units are setrelatively close to the mineral face as compared with arrangements inwhich the whole of the conveyor and a loading ramp associated therewithare located to the front of the roof supports.

A convenient form of endless conveyor is that comprising a series ofpaddles attached to an endless chain and arranged to travel alongtroughs or the like.

As an alternative to an endless conveyor the conveying means maycomprise a ramp at the front of the supports which, as the supports areadvanced, picks up the mined mineral and directs it onto a longitudinalconveyor (e.g. a jogging conveyor) at the rear of the ramp.

The members on the supports which carry the guide or supporting meansfor the mineral mining machine may be adjustable in a vertical plane toenable the machine to be steered or adjusted in accordance with anyfaults or undulations in the mineral seam being mined. This adjustmentmay be effected by hydraulic ram means.

The conveyor will also have a degree of flexibility in the verticalplane but generally it will be a rigid unit so far as any lateralmovement is concerned inasmuch as it is proposed to advance it bodilywhen a plurality of the front units of the supports are advanced.

The invention will be further described, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings which show the invention moreparticularly as applied to the cutting or mining of the usual stable atthe end of the coal face. The invention is, of course, also applicableto the longwall mining of the face.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic plan view with the equipment according to theinvention installed therein,

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the equipment shown inFIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of one of the roof supports, and itsassociated equipment, several of which go to make up the roof supportingand mining system shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, and

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of FIGURE 3.

The roof support and mining system shown in FIG- URES l and 2 comprisesa plurality of roof supports spaced apart along the face F.

Each roof support comprises a rear unit and a front unit. The rear unithas a base 10 on which there is mounted, in pairs, one behind the other,hydraulically extensible telescopic legs or props 11. The props 11support on their upper parts in the usual way a roof-engaging structureor canopy 12. The front unit of the support comprises a base 13 on whichthere is mounted a single hydraulically extensible telescopic leg orprop 14. The prop 14 supports at its upper part in the usual way acantilever roof-bar 15.

Each roof support also includes a hydraulic support advancing ram havingits cylinder 17 connected (e.g. by laterally projecting trunnions) tothe rear unit of the support and its piston 18 connected to the frontunit of the support.

The base of the front unit of the support also carries bearing brackets19 which pivotally support, at 20, a forwardly projecting arm orcantilever 21. The arm 21 is supported by a hydraulic ram 22.

The arms 21 of the several roof supports serve to support between themthe rails 23 on which the coal cutting or other mineral mining machineruns along the face. The rails 23 may be in sections coupled together asinddicated at 24 in FIGURE 4. The coupling provides for flexibility inthe vertical plane and rigidly against lateral flexing.

The front unit of each support also carries conveyor sections comprisinga ramp plate 25 and a trough 26. An endless chain 27 carrying paddles orthe like 28 runs along the ramp plate 25 and the trough 26. The rampplates and troughs 25 and 26 of neighbouring roof supports are coupledtogether by coupling devices 29 which give the conveyor as a whole somevertical or up-anddown flexibility.

The system and equipment above described is operated as follows:

As the cutting machine travels along the rails 23 coal is cut anddislodged from the face and deposited on the ramp 25 and neighbouringparts of the conveyor. This coal is moved along the ramp 25 andsubsequently along the trough 26 until it is deposited in a road-headconveyor 30 as shown in FIGURE 1.

When the cutting machine has removed a complete web of coal from theface it is necessary to advance the mining and roof support system. Todo this the legs 14 of the front units of the several supports arelowered slightly to relieve them of roof pressure. The rams 17, 18 ofthe several supports are then advanced so that they push forward thefront units of the supports together with the rails 23 and conveyor 25,26, 27, 28 carried by said units. As the front units of the supports areadvanced the ramp plates 25 gather up any coal which they have notreceived during the passage of the cutting machine and such coal istaken up by the paddles 28 and carried to the road-head conveyor 30.

It will be appreciated that the cutting machine can remain on the rails23 during the advance thereof towards the face. The machine su-mps(cuts) in during advance of the forward support unit.

The canopy 12 is slotted, as shown in FIGURE 3 to receive the cantileverroof-bar 15 so that said roof-bar can move forwardly relatively to thecanopy 12 and provide roof support close up to the newly exposed face.

When the front units of the supports have been fully advanced their legs14 are extended so as to secure them between floor and roof. The legs 11of the rear support units are then lowered slightly so as to relievethem of roof pressure. The ram 17, 18 is then retracted so that the rearsupport units are brought forwardly to their normal position in relationto the front units as shown in FIG- URE 2. The legs 11 are then extendedso as to secure the rear units of the support firmly between floor androof. The system is then ready for the coal cutting machine to cut afurther web of coal from the face.

The coal cutting machine can be steered or adjusted verticallyrelatively to the face by adjusting the arms 21 by means of thehydraulic jacks 22.

Where the two units of each support are in side-by-side relationship oneof each unit may have a cantilever, similar to the cantilever 21, on itsforward part and carrying a section of rail adapted to form a part of atrack for the coal cutting machine. Similarly, the front of one or eachunit may carry a section of the conveyor 25, 26, 27, 28.

I claim:

1. A mineral mining arrangement including a plurality of self-advancingroof supports which are spaced apart along the length of a mineral face,an elevated forwardly projecting cantilever member pivoted at the frontof each support, a pressure-fluid jack supporting each such cantilevermember for vertical adjustment thereof, a section of track, for amineral mining machine, on each of said elevated forwardly projectingcantilever members, a section of conveyor at the front of each supportand positioned immediately below the elevated forwardly projectingcantilever member thereof, said sections of track and sections ofconveyor on the plurality of supports aligning with one another when thesupports have all been advanced towards said mineral face preparatory tothe mining of mineral therefrom and the track sections so alignedserving as a track for guiding a mineral mining machine along saidmineral face and the conveyor sections when so aligned receiving saidmined mineral.

2. A mining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein means is providedfor hingedly connecting said track sections together end-to-end forvertical articulation but rigidity against lateral flexing.

3. A mining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein means is providedfor hingedly connecting said conveyor sections together for verticalarticulation but rigidly against lateral flexing.

4. A mining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein a forward part ofeach section of conveyor is in the form of a ramp plate which isoperative to pick up mined mineral as the support is advanced.

5. A mining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein a chain meanstravels along said conveyor sections and said chain means carriesscrapers which convey mined mineral along the conveyor sections.

6. A mining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the conveyorsections form part of an endless conveyor between the runs of whichhydraulically extensible props of the roof supports are positioned.

7. A mining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the conveyorsections form an endless conveyor, lengths of which run in oppositedirection along the mineral face, the length furthest from said facedischarging mineral into a further conveyor disposed at an angle to it.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,357,742 12/1967 Dommann et al299-32 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,025,808 3/1958 Germany.

1,047,473 11/1966 Great Britain.

ERNEST R. PURSER, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 6145; 299-43

